TDY

by Douglas Valentine Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki

Overview

A CIA thriller based on a true Vietnam War story.

This novel by Douglas Valentine, author of the nonfiction bestseller The CIA as Organized Crime, is based on a true story, one told to him in his youth by his father, and barely, yet grippingly, fictionalized here.

In early 1967, a bored, adventurous photojournalist on an Air Force base in Texas is offered a Temporary Duty (TDY) assignment somewhere overseas. The mission is steeped in secrecy, but Pete is promised a large bonus and hazardous duty pay. So he agrees.

He and a small group of photojournalists, each with a special skill, are isolated on a Special Forces base where they are kept under constant surveillance by a group of highly trained and menacing soldiers. The small band of twelve men is flown overseas on a transport plane large enough for 120 men. They are never told where they are going, until they arrive. And when they finally reach their destination, the mission that unfolds is terrifying beyond anything Pete ever imagined.

TDY tells how “black operations” are organized and conducted. Meticulous in detail, and accurate in every aspect of “over the fence” missions deep into enemy territory, it reveals for the uninitiated the skill, determination, and self-sacrifice of American soldiers.

In stark contrast to the honor and commitment of these soldiers, TDY reveals the unimaginable duplicity and corruption of powerful men for whom American soldiers and civilians are pawns in a ruthless game.

Written in sparing prose, TDY is a story of Pete's journey through the underworld and his awakening to the reality of the Vietnam War and the CIA role in Southeast Asia.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940177998343
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	06/07/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

My final clearances and TDY orders came two days later on a Friday, not from the Personnel Director, but directly from the hard-charging Security Chief. I got a call at my office saying he wished to speak to me in his office, “ASAP.” And what he had to say was, “You’ve got the assignment if you want it.”

I said I definitely wanted it.

“Then here are your orders,” he said. “Take a good look at them.”

On his desk was a standard TDY form; a single sheet of paper titled Temporary Duty Order—Military. At a glance it looked perfectly legitimate.

The Security Chief had signed his name as the Orders Issuing Official, and the Personnel Director had signed his as the Orders Authenticating Official. The Purpose of TDY was Photo/Reconnaissance, just as I’d been

told. The Itinerary listed a California APO Zip Code as my point of departure, and Clark Air Force Base as my destination. No problem. Approximate Number of Days indicated thirty, and all the biographical data was accurate.

I couldn’t see anything wrong with it. Not that I expected to, or knew what type of irregularities to look for anyway.

“Have you seen your orders?” the Security Chief asked rhetorically.

“Yes, sir,” I replied, showing no concern. But something about his detached manner put my journalistic instincts on alert. So just to be on the safe side, I asked, “Do I get a copy, sir?”

“No you do not,” he snorted. “You’ve seen your orders and that’s enough.” Stiffening slightly and looking at me askance, he said, gratuitously, “You still want the job, don’t you?”

I said I did. Even if I did have my reservations, I wasn’t about to back away from twenty-five hundred dollars because of a single piece of paper.

“Good,” he said, slipping the TDY order form in his top drawer. “Now that we’ve gotten that taken care of, you’ll return to Eglin for your preparation. You’ll be leaving tomorrow. Can you do that?”

I said I could.

The Security Chief was satisfied. “You know what to pack and how to conduct yourself?”

I said I did, and that was that. The next day I was on another hop to Eglin with only the foggiest notion of why. But that’s standard procedure in the military. People come and go and no one asks questions, especially

of superior officers. It’s all part of the motivational indoctrination. When your job is done you go back to doing whatever you did before. You might unwind with someone you were trained with and live with, and trust implicitly. But you never talked to strangers. It was the same unwritten rule

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